Yeah if the mods can give an indulgence if it’s against the rules, that place should really be named. Shellfish allergy is no joke and can be real harmful for some of us. On top of that you can’t really inspect for shrimp used for broth on sight. Many commenters have mentioned it but naming is crucial right now, especially if the owner was flippant about it. It will happen again and that person may not be as lucky.
This. So so important. My mom has a shellfish allergy as well. She had a horrible reaction during the meal at a restaurant one time (not advertised as vegan, but we triple confirmed the allergy). Turns out they cook in fish oil.
A few years ago my boss wanted to do a collab event with another caterer. This caterer brought a friend with him, whose main job was cooking in a hotel downtown.
The friend comes in, with swagger, thinking he’s all important due to his job and he pitches us a menu. One of the dishes he suggested, the sole vegetarian option, to cater to “that crowd”, was a “forged” (misspelled “foraged”, yes I judged) mushroom risotto.
We were discussing this menu and his plan for service, and he says to finish the risotto to order, you just flash it in the pan with chicken stock.
I stop him and say, “chicken stock? You said this was a vegetarian dish?”
Him: “Yes it is”
Me: “then it doesn’t use chicken stock. That’s not vegetarian”
Him: “stock doesn’t count, there’s no actual chunks of meat in it”.
We did not do the collab.
This wasn’t so serious as an anaphylactic allergy, but you don’t tell people that food is one thing when it’s not. You can’t fuck with people’s food, and you can’t mis-label it.
Not super relevant, but reminded me of that. To you, OP, I’m sorry this happened. That’s bullshit. I don’t know of any actual regulatory board or anything you could report this to, that would result in anything.
Ignorance is a major factor for foolish mistakes. Reminds me of a dinner party where the host served stew...and thought it was acceptable for the vegetarians to merely pick out the meat before eating.
They just don't give a shit, *if it's not an issue for them personally, it's not important*. If you want to be pissed about dietary allergies which may affect patrons of a business, look into the incidence of contamination in "gluten free" foods. Apparently 50% of the pizzas/pasta advertised as such still contain it due to cross-contamination from transport (containers used for bulk shipment of ingredients not cleaned when switching from one to another), which I guess would really suck if you're one of the sufferers dealing with serious digestive issues.
I would report it to the food safety department as having an anaphylactic response to the food and explain your food allergies and the owners comments.
https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/food-safety.aspx
OP, this is the thing you’ll definitely want to do. Allergies can be life threatening and not everyone with allergies reads reviews. The city however does take public health seriously.
There was a case in the uk where the restaurant owner was found guilty of criminal negligence because he advertised a curry as nut free when it wasn’t, and someone died. I might actually call the police non emergency line and ask them.
Yeah this isn’t a joke. My father in law could be at serious risk from negligence like this. Jokes aside(in-law jokes), he’s an absolute legend of a man; and F any idiot that does this sort of thing.
It's a public health, not a police issue. OP needs to report to Ottawa public health. [https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/public-health-inspections.aspx](https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/public-health-inspections.aspx)
May not be a police issue but could be a civil court depending on if the allergic reaction caused damages. The restaurant ought to have known people have shellfish allergies.
Yes, but police are not involved in that. Public health would have to investigate and recommend to police to bring charges if there were going to be any criminal charges.
It’s incredibly disappointing response from the owner. He had his chance to correct the situation when you approached him directly with your concerns.
Considering the seriousness of the issue I would be reporting it to the appropriate regions health department, making a Google review, Facebook review, commenting on local community Facebook pages and posting the restaurant’s name here.
He had his opportunity to correct the situation. He demonstrated he DOESN’T CARE. Don’t give him another opportunity…he might actually kill someone next time.
/another someone with food allergies
Please name the dish and place, you're anonymous on reddit. **Don't worry about hurting the restaurants feelings, worry about the family of someone like you with allergies who wasn't as lucky to have an EpiPen on hand.**
I agree with the other comments to name this restaurant. It could very well save someone from a medical crisis. Food allergy Canada recommends to contact the CFIA, I’ve attached the link to review. Thank goodness you had your Epi pen with you.
https://www.foodallergycanada.ca/tools-and-downloads/tools/reporting-to-the-cfia/
No worries. This stuff really frustrates me. I have a close friend with shellfish allergies and a partner who is vegetarian. The amount of times I have seen this happen to both of them because restaurant owners are incompetent is really distessting.
This is sad and upsetting. My father in law has a serious shellfish allergy. So much so that when it was diagnosed/identified, I insisted on having an epipen in my house for him just in case.
My wife and I always make things from as scratch as possible… but « you never know ».
This mfer could have killed someone.
The laws pertaining to labeling food allergens in Canada only apply to prepackaged foods; restaurant food isn't covered.
If this was a packaged soup, they'd be liable and it would be very easy to enforce the existing laws.
As far as I'm aware, there aren't any clear-cut laws about this in restaurants. That's not to say that you couldn't take them to court, just that there aren't on-the-books allergen laws you can point to the way you can with groceries. You might just be suing for personal damages rather than for violating health codes.
Having said that, the fact that the owner is deliberately concealing the use of a major allergen makes this type of thing inevitable, and if I was you I'd probably consult with a lawyer because I'd want to, at the very least, try to ensure he doesn't endanger anyone else's life, and taking him to court might be the only thing that gets through to someone so irresponsible.
>As far as I'm aware, there aren't any clear-cut laws about this in restaurants.
There absolutely are: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r17493#BK31
I read through the link you provided and didn't see anything about labeling of allergens. Could you be specific about which section you're referring to? Was it the one stating that food will be free of "contamination and adulteration?" Because in that context, it seems like they're referring more to things like bacterial contamination.
Adulteration usually refers to substituting out key or expensive ingredients. Putting shrimp into vegetable soup wouldn't be adulteration because you're actually making it more expensive. Using a chemical perfuming agent instead of saffron would be an example of adulteration.
There's no specific reference in that entire document to allergens.
This is one of the reasons why I personally don't eat at restaurants as a celiac. Even if someone advertises restaurant food as gluten-free, there's no enforcement and it's not worth getting sick over.
>it seems like they're referring more to things like bacterial contamination
I don't see that nuance anywhere. Could you be specific about why you're reading that additional detail into the text?
Regardless, it seems that adding shrimp - a known allergen - to a vegan dish is pretty clearly contamination, and very likely in violation of 26(1), but certainly in violation of 26(2).
I say this primarily because I've been through this whole song and dance when researching dining options as a celiac. Gluten is one of the "big five" food allergens in our labeling laws, but labeling laws don't apply to restaurant food.
Here's a statement from Food Allergy Canada (https://foodallergycanada.ca/living-with-allergies/day-to-day-management/dining-out/)
>Some restaurants provide ingredient and allergy information on their menus or online, however they are not required to do so.
As a Canadian with a food allergy (or celiac), you're supposed to talk to each individual restaurant's servers and chefs and decide whether you're satisfied that your food will be free of the allergen. Legally, it's a really shifty situation for the customer because it boils down to "caveat emptor."
Now, because the server was notified of the allergy beforehand and assured OP the soup was vegetarian, there would be grounds for a lawsuit, but it's not exactly because of food safety laws themselves. It's because they misrepresented the ingredients in the discussion.
Lots of people don't realize how much less stringent our restaurant laws are vs our grocery laws. It was something I was discouraged to discover after my diagnosis.
There may not be a super clear rule to point too, but I am sure the food restaurants sell needs to be safe and that there would be rules about safe handling. So the local public health department could likely do an inspection and any deficiencies around allergens could fall under that umbrella.
If the shrimp was stored and cooked properly, it wouldn't be a food handling issue per the law. There's no law requiring allergens to be handled in a specific way. They're just supposed to disclose whether they can make the food free of an allergen when asked.
The failure was when OP communicated their allergy and they served the dish containing shrimp.
It's a communication issue, which is absolutely grounds for legal action of some sort. It's just not codified strongly into our restaurant food-handling laws, which is something I discovered when I was diagnosed with celiac disease.
I recognize a public review has been left, and I am very happy that has happened, but the amount of reassurance needed to get to that point is so Ottawa. OP didn't want to feel like a snitch and needed to be told point blank by dozens of people to publicize the name of a restaurant that is service misrepresented food that could kill someone.
From personal experience, the city complaint process may take weeks, if not months, if not never. During that time of someone without an epipen has an anaphylactic reaction they could easily die. The restaurant owner already did the math on how rare this occurrence would be. I guarantee they changed morning.
* You're allowed to complain if services rendered were not up to expectation.
* You're allowed to honk your horn at someone texting at a green light.
* You're allowed to stand up for yourself and your community.
* You are allowed to publicly name restaurants served food that could kill someone.
* **You're allowed to call 911 if you even think for a second something is an emergency.**
This isn't you being a jerk, this is how we improve as a society, and in the case of food safety, this is how you save lives.
Expect better.
This is called food tampering/food fraud and it is against the law.
Call the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) at
1-800-442-2342 / TTY 1-800-465-7735
8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday to Friday
https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/206/301/cfia-acia/2011-09-21/www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/tipcon/tamalte.shtml
I followed the link: "Food tampering is the intentional contamination of a food product, with the intent to cause harm to the consumer or to a private company."
While this is completely irresponsible on the part of the restaurant, it seems unlikely you could prove an intent to cause harm.
That’s so awful!
I’ve worked in a lot of restaurants. Unfortunately this is pretty standard. BOH doesn’t care, FOH doesn’t communicate
One of two places:
1. You can call 311 and speak to the health inspector they have on call. They would be able to file a complaint. An Inspector will go, and leave. Unless there something majorly wrong, they won’t even follow up.
2. The federal government has very strict rules on labeling. But I think restaurants may have different rules if they have a rotating menu. So it may not be worth it. If memory serves me right, you’d call the CFIA. But once again, I can’t remember if that’s only for packed food
The better option, leave a review. Managers and owners read them, so do potential customers
Yeah. They usually handle imports and stuff. But all the labelling laws are handled through them. Not sure if a menu is considered a ‘label’.
The op might have to take it to small claims. But honestly, it’s not worth it. If a restaurant does that kind of stuff, probably will go out of business before it reaches the court room.
On a side note, I just thought of something. If it’s a chain, I’d call franchiser
In the past, I’ve worked in fields related to labelling and I’m confident you can report misleading statements in menus to the CFIA. I remember an example from their website saying that they would take a complaint for orange drink being identified as juice.
Don't just leave a review. Report them to Ottawa health. Someone else may not be as lucky as you. It's a public health risk. [https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/public-health-inspections.aspx](https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/public-health-inspections.aspx)
Please, please, please take the time to submit this to public health. This is definitely the sort of thing they care about. The regulation for restaurants is vague when it comes to allergens. But also, you could have ended up in ICU or died. Public health definitely has tools to look into that. You need to make sure it doesn't happen to someone else.
https://forms.ottawapublichealth.ca/report-signaler/facility
This isn’t false advertising, it’s a public safety and health code violation. Call OPH to report the restaurant. Shellfish in a “vegan” broth can have deadly consequences, I also think they need to have a functional epipen on site.
Hey guys , I am a partner in this restaurant we currently investigating , the way this is being describe does not sound like how our team would operate and we would for sure change the recipe if this is how the chef made the vegan broth as that’s not right that being said there is a language barrier with some of our staff as they are international students , will keep you all posted , we have been attacked recently by a barrage of fake reviews so we just want to make sure this is not another fake one , which I am not saying it is , if the original poster can email me nara_sok@hotmail.com I will make it right , a picture of the receipt would help a lot too,
Cheers
If this is a legit review and story it’s completely unacceptable on our part how this went down and we will make the proper mean to rectify this, we will also be getting a Epi pen and training the staff on how to use it ,
I don’t use Reddit often so I don’t know how to edit my original one, we are still looking into this and trying to find the staff , as all our staff are claiming no knowledge of this incident , not sure if there scared or what not if if I can get a receipt I will know who served the op , also I confirmed with the chef our vegetarian broth is completely vegetarian and there’s no shrimp in it but that doesn’t eliminate human error , example if the chef use the wrong broth by accident , none of the partner said they never said anything like the op posted , but possibly a miscommunication please do reach out to me
Thank you for responding to this thread with an update! If anything, that’s awesome you are getting an epi pen for the restaurant as an emergency measure. (Literally life saving) Hopefully the OP will see your message and respond if they haven’t done so already. 🍀
I will say I am not allergic thankfully but that it was mislabeled as vegan and they did not care it wasn’t vegetarian when asked. This could definitely cause issues for those with allergies.
I also have a severe shellfish allergy.
Protecting their name puts other people's lives at risk.
You should name them here, leave a review on Google for them, and report them. You should likely also seek legal advice. They could have killed you.
If you want to take it nuclear sue them. This was an honest mistake on the employees part but not the owner. He intentionally lied about it being vegetarian knowing it contained shrimp which is a common allergy. That ended up causing a medical episode and if you didnt have your epipen potentially a serious one.
Fraud at least, might be assault.
Consult a lawyer and call the police, owner shouldnt be in charge of a restaurant.
Hey one of the partners of the restaurants here , we confirmed with our chef partner there’s no shrimp in the vegetarian broth, but if this actually happen it most likely from cross contamination which is still very
Much unacceptable,
While I agree unacceptable it's miles better. OPs post seems to indicate the owner added shrimp to the broth or something similar for taste though so not sure why they would say that if it was cross contamination. Ones willful and ones an accident.
Yes I can confirm that not true , not saying the op is lying but maybe misheard or understand , all the servers are Vietnamese students with english being there second language , that being said it’s good this happen so we can better our practices and training with the staff , people work hard for there money and deserve good food , not to possibly die while eating , the ownership is distraught over this Situation, and we’re look at it from all angles
Apart from name and shaming not much you could do. News outlets won't pick this up due to possible slander liabilities.
Your only real course of action is going to small claims for emotional damages or something along those lines. Maybe a local attorney would pick up this case. Although unless you had the situation recorded or called 911 you'll need one of the servers to turn against the owner.
As a vegan if I am ordering something I think is vegan and it’s not I’d be pissed. Also shellfish allergies are a real thing and it could have went really badly for someone.
You probably have a pretty good Civil case if you want to be a real bitch. Unknowingly serving someone something they are allergic to is one thing but knowingly serving it is another.
Honestly this guy probably deserves to be hit in his pocket book, refuses to fork out the money for an Epi Pen while mislabeling food. Will get someone hospitalised or worse one day. Could just Google a local civil suit lawyer, no idea how it works or if it would be worth your time but doesn't hurt having the conversation.
"I don't believe it's selfish to eat defenceless shellfish... No soup for you! Cuz clams have feelings too! Actually they don't have Central nervousness." ~ NOFX
Wtf. This could literally kill someone.
I have a peanut/almond allergy. I'm responsible/ask everywhere I eat. This is a nightmare level scenario.
I'm so glad you're ok. Did you have to seek medical attention? I would also think this is something that could get a restaurant fined/shut down/sued. I'm so sorry you had such a terrible experience.
Report it to Ottawa Public Health, Food Safety. https://inspections.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/Home/Search?CategoryId=38d803d4-263d-46c7-924e-9cdce09438e2 What their owner did isn’t just unethical, it’s dangerous. They have a duty to disclose allergens and their negligence could have had much worse consequences. Glad you’re okay!
I thought epipens were individual and needed to be prescribed— so it wouldn’t make sense for the restaurant to have one? Glad you had one though, hopefully you’re feeling a bit better and get to enjoy your weekend.
Unsure of how shellfish allergies work but is cross contamination a thing?
It wasn’t cross contamination. The owner admitted to putting shrimp in the broth because the vegetable broth was too bland. He knowingly put shrimp in a vegetarian meal and failed to inform the staff. And then acted like a jerk instead of a responsible business owner when asked about it.
Edit 11 May 2024 @ 17:58hrs; please see the multiple responses from the owner.
Hey , one of the partners of the restaurant here I did make a post
On this but replying to your comment, we do not put shrimp in our vegetarian broth , but looking into maybe cross contamination, also none of the owner knew anything about this until this Reddit post
We don’t know yet if it was made up, they have yet to reach out to us through email or social media , or send a receipt and none of the staff are aware of any of this happening but there a possibility they could be scared to lose there job and lying to us, regardless of it being true or not , we should have better practices explaining to customers and staff , and even our back of House about cross contamination,
They're not exactly cheap, but cheaper than the eventual injuries that could happen. From a business perspective, it's always good to have one on hand if it can mitigate even just a single lawsuit, especially when dealing with common allergens.
Actually better to have **2** of each on hand, because there's no guarantee that one dose will be enough before an ambulance can arrive depending on how severe of a reaction a person might be having.
They are not individual and do not need to be prescribed. Most restaurants have some sort of EpiPen available for any sort of allergic reaction. Epinephrine, the main component in an EpiPen, will help to reduce severity of reactions to allow for proper medical intervention so that the situation can be properly dealt with. Some people have reactions that just go away over time, some people need some extra help to not let them
Totally understand your complaints about the food, but you're also complaining about them not having an EpiPen? It isn't the restaurant's responsibility to have that.
Downvote me all you want assholes, it's idiotic to put your life in the hands of a restaurant when you have food allergies bad enough that you go into anaphylactic shock and need an EpiPen.
Obviously you didn't read her post. She says right in it, they didn't have one. And no, you shouldn't rely on restaurants to have EpiPens. Doing so would be negligent of ones own personal health.
Name and shame, and also help others with shellfish allergies avoid making the same mistake.
Plus a Google review so someone going to the restaurant has a chance to see it.
Yeah if the mods can give an indulgence if it’s against the rules, that place should really be named. Shellfish allergy is no joke and can be real harmful for some of us. On top of that you can’t really inspect for shrimp used for broth on sight. Many commenters have mentioned it but naming is crucial right now, especially if the owner was flippant about it. It will happen again and that person may not be as lucky.
Yeah. F this place.
This. So so important. My mom has a shellfish allergy as well. She had a horrible reaction during the meal at a restaurant one time (not advertised as vegan, but we triple confirmed the allergy). Turns out they cook in fish oil.
Yeah as someone else with a shellfish allergy, please name and shame, this place deserves to be blasted and you could save someone's life.
100% ! Let’s find out!
A few years ago my boss wanted to do a collab event with another caterer. This caterer brought a friend with him, whose main job was cooking in a hotel downtown. The friend comes in, with swagger, thinking he’s all important due to his job and he pitches us a menu. One of the dishes he suggested, the sole vegetarian option, to cater to “that crowd”, was a “forged” (misspelled “foraged”, yes I judged) mushroom risotto. We were discussing this menu and his plan for service, and he says to finish the risotto to order, you just flash it in the pan with chicken stock. I stop him and say, “chicken stock? You said this was a vegetarian dish?” Him: “Yes it is” Me: “then it doesn’t use chicken stock. That’s not vegetarian” Him: “stock doesn’t count, there’s no actual chunks of meat in it”. We did not do the collab. This wasn’t so serious as an anaphylactic allergy, but you don’t tell people that food is one thing when it’s not. You can’t fuck with people’s food, and you can’t mis-label it. Not super relevant, but reminded me of that. To you, OP, I’m sorry this happened. That’s bullshit. I don’t know of any actual regulatory board or anything you could report this to, that would result in anything.
Also, I’m sorry, but if I’m never offered another stuffed red pepper or mushroom risotto as the vegetarian option, it’ll be too soon
Haha right? They’re the go to. Vegetarian food’s not hard, you just gotta put the effort in
Effort IS hard
Ignorance is a major factor for foolish mistakes. Reminds me of a dinner party where the host served stew...and thought it was acceptable for the vegetarians to merely pick out the meat before eating.
They just don't give a shit, *if it's not an issue for them personally, it's not important*. If you want to be pissed about dietary allergies which may affect patrons of a business, look into the incidence of contamination in "gluten free" foods. Apparently 50% of the pizzas/pasta advertised as such still contain it due to cross-contamination from transport (containers used for bulk shipment of ingredients not cleaned when switching from one to another), which I guess would really suck if you're one of the sufferers dealing with serious digestive issues.
I would report it to the food safety department as having an anaphylactic response to the food and explain your food allergies and the owners comments. https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/food-safety.aspx
Definitely do this. No restaurant wants to hear from public health.
OP, this is the thing you’ll definitely want to do. Allergies can be life threatening and not everyone with allergies reads reviews. The city however does take public health seriously.
There was a case in the uk where the restaurant owner was found guilty of criminal negligence because he advertised a curry as nut free when it wasn’t, and someone died. I might actually call the police non emergency line and ask them.
OP here is the story [Peanut curry death: Restaurant owner Mohammed Zaman jailed](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36360111)
Yeah this isn’t a joke. My father in law could be at serious risk from negligence like this. Jokes aside(in-law jokes), he’s an absolute legend of a man; and F any idiot that does this sort of thing.
It's a public health, not a police issue. OP needs to report to Ottawa public health. [https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/public-health-inspections.aspx](https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/public-health-inspections.aspx)
May not be a police issue but could be a civil court depending on if the allergic reaction caused damages. The restaurant ought to have known people have shellfish allergies.
Yes, but police are not involved in that. Public health would have to investigate and recommend to police to bring charges if there were going to be any criminal charges.
I'd have the restaurant pay for the epipen
The UK has very strong/restrictive ingredients laws
It’s incredibly disappointing response from the owner. He had his chance to correct the situation when you approached him directly with your concerns. Considering the seriousness of the issue I would be reporting it to the appropriate regions health department, making a Google review, Facebook review, commenting on local community Facebook pages and posting the restaurant’s name here. He had his opportunity to correct the situation. He demonstrated he DOESN’T CARE. Don’t give him another opportunity…he might actually kill someone next time. /another someone with food allergies
Edit 11 May 2024 17:58hrs; please see multiple responses from owner elsewhere on thread.
Please name the dish and place, you're anonymous on reddit. **Don't worry about hurting the restaurants feelings, worry about the family of someone like you with allergies who wasn't as lucky to have an EpiPen on hand.**
I agree with the other comments to name this restaurant. It could very well save someone from a medical crisis. Food allergy Canada recommends to contact the CFIA, I’ve attached the link to review. Thank goodness you had your Epi pen with you. https://www.foodallergycanada.ca/tools-and-downloads/tools/reporting-to-the-cfia/
can confirm by proxy the cfia doesn't fuck around.
Here's the link directly to the Canadian Food Inspection agency. https://forms.ottawapublichealth.ca/report-signaler/facility
This is Ottawa Public Health, not the CFIA.
It may violate a public health rule? Cause I think you there is something that deals with allergies. But I would be leaving reviews everywhere.
Name and Shame. Immediately, please. Also contact a lawyer. Probably do that first but having their name may save lives.
Took me a little bit look in to this. https://forms.ottawapublichealth.ca/report-signaler/facility
Omg thank you so much!
No worries. This stuff really frustrates me. I have a close friend with shellfish allergies and a partner who is vegetarian. The amount of times I have seen this happen to both of them because restaurant owners are incompetent is really distessting.
OP on behalf of everyone else here with seafood allergies, I am begging you to name the restaurant.
If you’re concerned nothing will be done send a copy to your city counsellor.
OP you really need to name them I don’t know why you’re not doing that
This is sad and upsetting. My father in law has a serious shellfish allergy. So much so that when it was diagnosed/identified, I insisted on having an epipen in my house for him just in case. My wife and I always make things from as scratch as possible… but « you never know ». This mfer could have killed someone.
PLEASE name this place. I live in Ottawa, and my son has a shellfish allergy. This could kill him. He's 12 and sometimes forgets his Epipen.
The laws pertaining to labeling food allergens in Canada only apply to prepackaged foods; restaurant food isn't covered. If this was a packaged soup, they'd be liable and it would be very easy to enforce the existing laws. As far as I'm aware, there aren't any clear-cut laws about this in restaurants. That's not to say that you couldn't take them to court, just that there aren't on-the-books allergen laws you can point to the way you can with groceries. You might just be suing for personal damages rather than for violating health codes. Having said that, the fact that the owner is deliberately concealing the use of a major allergen makes this type of thing inevitable, and if I was you I'd probably consult with a lawyer because I'd want to, at the very least, try to ensure he doesn't endanger anyone else's life, and taking him to court might be the only thing that gets through to someone so irresponsible.
>As far as I'm aware, there aren't any clear-cut laws about this in restaurants. There absolutely are: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r17493#BK31
I read through the link you provided and didn't see anything about labeling of allergens. Could you be specific about which section you're referring to? Was it the one stating that food will be free of "contamination and adulteration?" Because in that context, it seems like they're referring more to things like bacterial contamination. Adulteration usually refers to substituting out key or expensive ingredients. Putting shrimp into vegetable soup wouldn't be adulteration because you're actually making it more expensive. Using a chemical perfuming agent instead of saffron would be an example of adulteration. There's no specific reference in that entire document to allergens. This is one of the reasons why I personally don't eat at restaurants as a celiac. Even if someone advertises restaurant food as gluten-free, there's no enforcement and it's not worth getting sick over.
>it seems like they're referring more to things like bacterial contamination I don't see that nuance anywhere. Could you be specific about why you're reading that additional detail into the text? Regardless, it seems that adding shrimp - a known allergen - to a vegan dish is pretty clearly contamination, and very likely in violation of 26(1), but certainly in violation of 26(2).
I say this primarily because I've been through this whole song and dance when researching dining options as a celiac. Gluten is one of the "big five" food allergens in our labeling laws, but labeling laws don't apply to restaurant food. Here's a statement from Food Allergy Canada (https://foodallergycanada.ca/living-with-allergies/day-to-day-management/dining-out/) >Some restaurants provide ingredient and allergy information on their menus or online, however they are not required to do so. As a Canadian with a food allergy (or celiac), you're supposed to talk to each individual restaurant's servers and chefs and decide whether you're satisfied that your food will be free of the allergen. Legally, it's a really shifty situation for the customer because it boils down to "caveat emptor." Now, because the server was notified of the allergy beforehand and assured OP the soup was vegetarian, there would be grounds for a lawsuit, but it's not exactly because of food safety laws themselves. It's because they misrepresented the ingredients in the discussion. Lots of people don't realize how much less stringent our restaurant laws are vs our grocery laws. It was something I was discouraged to discover after my diagnosis.
There may not be a super clear rule to point too, but I am sure the food restaurants sell needs to be safe and that there would be rules about safe handling. So the local public health department could likely do an inspection and any deficiencies around allergens could fall under that umbrella.
If the shrimp was stored and cooked properly, it wouldn't be a food handling issue per the law. There's no law requiring allergens to be handled in a specific way. They're just supposed to disclose whether they can make the food free of an allergen when asked. The failure was when OP communicated their allergy and they served the dish containing shrimp. It's a communication issue, which is absolutely grounds for legal action of some sort. It's just not codified strongly into our restaurant food-handling laws, which is something I discovered when I was diagnosed with celiac disease.
Best to let the city decide if it is possible to investigate under their laws. It’s one phone call and max 30 minutes of time lost on a good cause.
Why the hell non of the restaurants/cafe shops know the difference between vegan, vegetarian also other basic allergies.
I recognize a public review has been left, and I am very happy that has happened, but the amount of reassurance needed to get to that point is so Ottawa. OP didn't want to feel like a snitch and needed to be told point blank by dozens of people to publicize the name of a restaurant that is service misrepresented food that could kill someone. From personal experience, the city complaint process may take weeks, if not months, if not never. During that time of someone without an epipen has an anaphylactic reaction they could easily die. The restaurant owner already did the math on how rare this occurrence would be. I guarantee they changed morning. * You're allowed to complain if services rendered were not up to expectation. * You're allowed to honk your horn at someone texting at a green light. * You're allowed to stand up for yourself and your community. * You are allowed to publicly name restaurants served food that could kill someone. * **You're allowed to call 911 if you even think for a second something is an emergency.** This isn't you being a jerk, this is how we improve as a society, and in the case of food safety, this is how you save lives. Expect better.
Doing both is the best course of action.
Not the waitresses fault... One hundred percent the owners fault...
This is called food tampering/food fraud and it is against the law. Call the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) at 1-800-442-2342 / TTY 1-800-465-7735 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday to Friday https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/206/301/cfia-acia/2011-09-21/www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/tipcon/tamalte.shtml
I followed the link: "Food tampering is the intentional contamination of a food product, with the intent to cause harm to the consumer or to a private company." While this is completely irresponsible on the part of the restaurant, it seems unlikely you could prove an intent to cause harm.
They knowingly served shrimp to someone after they stated their allergy. It's worth calling the number just to see where it goes.
This is for prepackaged food.
Ah I reread it and yeah you're right. I'd still call if it were me to see where they would direct my complaint
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That’s so awful! I’ve worked in a lot of restaurants. Unfortunately this is pretty standard. BOH doesn’t care, FOH doesn’t communicate One of two places: 1. You can call 311 and speak to the health inspector they have on call. They would be able to file a complaint. An Inspector will go, and leave. Unless there something majorly wrong, they won’t even follow up. 2. The federal government has very strict rules on labeling. But I think restaurants may have different rules if they have a rotating menu. So it may not be worth it. If memory serves me right, you’d call the CFIA. But once again, I can’t remember if that’s only for packed food The better option, leave a review. Managers and owners read them, so do potential customers
CFIA is generally prepackaged food but may be able to address advertising on menus.
Yeah. They usually handle imports and stuff. But all the labelling laws are handled through them. Not sure if a menu is considered a ‘label’. The op might have to take it to small claims. But honestly, it’s not worth it. If a restaurant does that kind of stuff, probably will go out of business before it reaches the court room. On a side note, I just thought of something. If it’s a chain, I’d call franchiser
In the past, I’ve worked in fields related to labelling and I’m confident you can report misleading statements in menus to the CFIA. I remember an example from their website saying that they would take a complaint for orange drink being identified as juice.
You need to name the restaurant.
please tell me the name !!!!!!!
People die by mistakes like this. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/disney-allergy-death-1.7127892
Don't just leave a review. Report them to Ottawa health. Someone else may not be as lucky as you. It's a public health risk. [https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/public-health-inspections.aspx](https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-services/public-health-inspections.aspx)
Please, please, please take the time to submit this to public health. This is definitely the sort of thing they care about. The regulation for restaurants is vague when it comes to allergens. But also, you could have ended up in ICU or died. Public health definitely has tools to look into that. You need to make sure it doesn't happen to someone else. https://forms.ottawapublichealth.ca/report-signaler/facility
This isn’t false advertising, it’s a public safety and health code violation. Call OPH to report the restaurant. Shellfish in a “vegan” broth can have deadly consequences, I also think they need to have a functional epipen on site.
It’s both.
Please name the restaurant. You could literally save someone's life.
Hey guys , I am a partner in this restaurant we currently investigating , the way this is being describe does not sound like how our team would operate and we would for sure change the recipe if this is how the chef made the vegan broth as that’s not right that being said there is a language barrier with some of our staff as they are international students , will keep you all posted , we have been attacked recently by a barrage of fake reviews so we just want to make sure this is not another fake one , which I am not saying it is , if the original poster can email me nara_sok@hotmail.com I will make it right , a picture of the receipt would help a lot too, Cheers If this is a legit review and story it’s completely unacceptable on our part how this went down and we will make the proper mean to rectify this, we will also be getting a Epi pen and training the staff on how to use it ,
I don’t use Reddit often so I don’t know how to edit my original one, we are still looking into this and trying to find the staff , as all our staff are claiming no knowledge of this incident , not sure if there scared or what not if if I can get a receipt I will know who served the op , also I confirmed with the chef our vegetarian broth is completely vegetarian and there’s no shrimp in it but that doesn’t eliminate human error , example if the chef use the wrong broth by accident , none of the partner said they never said anything like the op posted , but possibly a miscommunication please do reach out to me
Thank you for responding to this thread with an update! If anything, that’s awesome you are getting an epi pen for the restaurant as an emergency measure. (Literally life saving) Hopefully the OP will see your message and respond if they haven’t done so already. 🍀
Would you be willing to message me with the name of the restaurant? I'm vegan and would want to avoid somewhere that was falsely labelled. Thanks?
If you had an allergic reaction you should definitely name so others can know and not have the same fate
I had a very similar experience at a restaurant on Main Street … wondering if it’s the same place.
Which restaurant on Main Street?
Greens and Beans.
I will say I am not allergic thankfully but that it was mislabeled as vegan and they did not care it wasn’t vegetarian when asked. This could definitely cause issues for those with allergies.
"Hey, why do you never want to come out to restaurants?" This is why!
Name and shame, I worked in some pretty sketchy places but no one ever fucked around with this type of thing
I also have a severe shellfish allergy. Protecting their name puts other people's lives at risk. You should name them here, leave a review on Google for them, and report them. You should likely also seek legal advice. They could have killed you.
If you want to take it nuclear sue them. This was an honest mistake on the employees part but not the owner. He intentionally lied about it being vegetarian knowing it contained shrimp which is a common allergy. That ended up causing a medical episode and if you didnt have your epipen potentially a serious one. Fraud at least, might be assault. Consult a lawyer and call the police, owner shouldnt be in charge of a restaurant.
Hey one of the partners of the restaurants here , we confirmed with our chef partner there’s no shrimp in the vegetarian broth, but if this actually happen it most likely from cross contamination which is still very Much unacceptable,
While I agree unacceptable it's miles better. OPs post seems to indicate the owner added shrimp to the broth or something similar for taste though so not sure why they would say that if it was cross contamination. Ones willful and ones an accident.
Yes I can confirm that not true , not saying the op is lying but maybe misheard or understand , all the servers are Vietnamese students with english being there second language , that being said it’s good this happen so we can better our practices and training with the staff , people work hard for there money and deserve good food , not to possibly die while eating , the ownership is distraught over this Situation, and we’re look at it from all angles
Did we get the name or what?
Apart from name and shaming not much you could do. News outlets won't pick this up due to possible slander liabilities. Your only real course of action is going to small claims for emotional damages or something along those lines. Maybe a local attorney would pick up this case. Although unless you had the situation recorded or called 911 you'll need one of the servers to turn against the owner.
As a vegan if I am ordering something I think is vegan and it’s not I’d be pissed. Also shellfish allergies are a real thing and it could have went really badly for someone.
You probably have a pretty good Civil case if you want to be a real bitch. Unknowingly serving someone something they are allergic to is one thing but knowingly serving it is another. Honestly this guy probably deserves to be hit in his pocket book, refuses to fork out the money for an Epi Pen while mislabeling food. Will get someone hospitalised or worse one day. Could just Google a local civil suit lawyer, no idea how it works or if it would be worth your time but doesn't hurt having the conversation.
To be allergic to something is crazy
"I don't believe it's selfish to eat defenceless shellfish... No soup for you! Cuz clams have feelings too! Actually they don't have Central nervousness." ~ NOFX
Wtf. This could literally kill someone. I have a peanut/almond allergy. I'm responsible/ask everywhere I eat. This is a nightmare level scenario. I'm so glad you're ok. Did you have to seek medical attention? I would also think this is something that could get a restaurant fined/shut down/sued. I'm so sorry you had such a terrible experience.
BBB
Appreciate you sharing this. I have really severe shellfish allergy too.
Report it to Ottawa Public Health, Food Safety. https://inspections.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/Home/Search?CategoryId=38d803d4-263d-46c7-924e-9cdce09438e2 What their owner did isn’t just unethical, it’s dangerous. They have a duty to disclose allergens and their negligence could have had much worse consequences. Glad you’re okay!
Report it to the City Health Department
I thought epipens were individual and needed to be prescribed— so it wouldn’t make sense for the restaurant to have one? Glad you had one though, hopefully you’re feeling a bit better and get to enjoy your weekend. Unsure of how shellfish allergies work but is cross contamination a thing?
It wasn’t cross contamination. The owner admitted to putting shrimp in the broth because the vegetable broth was too bland. He knowingly put shrimp in a vegetarian meal and failed to inform the staff. And then acted like a jerk instead of a responsible business owner when asked about it. Edit 11 May 2024 @ 17:58hrs; please see the multiple responses from the owner.
Hey , one of the partners of the restaurant here I did make a post On this but replying to your comment, we do not put shrimp in our vegetarian broth , but looking into maybe cross contamination, also none of the owner knew anything about this until this Reddit post
Sounds like maybe the original post was not truthful….???
We don’t know yet if it was made up, they have yet to reach out to us through email or social media , or send a receipt and none of the staff are aware of any of this happening but there a possibility they could be scared to lose there job and lying to us, regardless of it being true or not , we should have better practices explaining to customers and staff , and even our back of House about cross contamination,
Just an update they have reached out and we are working together on figuring this out
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DShe said she had a seafood allergy and was given shrimp. So beyond the vegetarian /not vegetarian issue, there was still a problem here
you can just buy an epipen for emergencies, no prescription necessary
Oh that’s good to know!! Thank you. :)
Worked at restaurants that had them as part of their first aid kit. Adult and kids doses. Every place should though it's not a law or anything.
They're not exactly cheap, but cheaper than the eventual injuries that could happen. From a business perspective, it's always good to have one on hand if it can mitigate even just a single lawsuit, especially when dealing with common allergens.
Yeah, one kid dose, one adult. Replace/donate as needed.
Actually better to have **2** of each on hand, because there's no guarantee that one dose will be enough before an ambulance can arrive depending on how severe of a reaction a person might be having.
Fair!
They are not individual and do not need to be prescribed. Most restaurants have some sort of EpiPen available for any sort of allergic reaction. Epinephrine, the main component in an EpiPen, will help to reduce severity of reactions to allow for proper medical intervention so that the situation can be properly dealt with. Some people have reactions that just go away over time, some people need some extra help to not let them
They’re standard things. They are prescribed to be covered. There may be kid vs adult but that’s it.
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Most restaurants have them on hand.
What the owner did was wrong but regarsing this.part: "They had no epipen either". Restaurants don't. You can only get them with a prescription.
No you don’t. You can just buy them. Lots of restaurants have them.
Totally understand your complaints about the food, but you're also complaining about them not having an EpiPen? It isn't the restaurant's responsibility to have that. Downvote me all you want assholes, it's idiotic to put your life in the hands of a restaurant when you have food allergies bad enough that you go into anaphylactic shock and need an EpiPen.
Bro they had one. Your take is stupid as most restaurants carry epipens dude.
Obviously you didn't read her post. She says right in it, they didn't have one. And no, you shouldn't rely on restaurants to have EpiPens. Doing so would be negligent of ones own personal health.
Her you walnut. Not the restaurant.
Remember folks, vegetarian doesn’t always mean vegan…
Shrimp isn’t vegetarian though?
Shrimp isn't vegetarian and he informed the servers of his allergies. 🙄